In Singapore your credit score is a number from 1,000 to 2,000 calculated by Credit Bureau Singapore from your borrowing and repayment history. It is paired with a risk grade from AA (best) down to HH (worst). Banks pull this score when you apply for a loan or a credit card, and it shapes whether you get approved and on what terms. The score is not fixed. It moves as your behaviour changes, so a low one can be rebuilt with about 12 months of clean repayment. This guide covers how the score is built, the grade bands, what drags it down, how to read your own report, and the concrete steps to repair a poor score.
There is no single national credit score the way some countries run it. Banks and major financial institutions share your credit data with Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS), which is licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the Credit Bureau Act 2016. CBS compiles that data into a credit report and a Bureau Score.
The Bureau Score is a number between 1,000 and 2,000. A higher number means a lower chance you will default, so 2,000 is the strongest profile and 1,000 the weakest. Sitting alongside the number is a two-letter risk grade, AA through HH, that tells a lender at a glance which risk band you fall into.
The score is a snapshot, not a permanent label. CBS recalculates it from the data on file, and your repayment behaviour is assessed on a rolling 12-month basis. Clean up your habits and the number follows within a year.
One thing the score does not contain is your income or your bank balance. CBS scores how you have handled credit, not how much money you have. A high earner who pays late can score worse than a modest earner who never misses. Lenders look at income separately when they decide how much to lend, which is a different question from how risky you are to lend to.
Each score maps to a risk grade. The grade is what most lenders react to first, because it sorts borrowers into bands by their probability of default. The table below shows the bands CBS publishes.
Two anchors are worth memorising. A score above 1,911 earns the top AA grade, with a default probability of 0.27% or less. A score of 1,723 or below lands in HH, the worst grade, with a default probability of 3.48% or more. Everything in between is a gradient of risk.
| Risk grade | Score range | Probability of default |
|---|---|---|
| AA | 1,911 - 2,000 | 0.00% - 0.27% |
| BB | 1,844 - 1,910 | 0.27% - 0.67% |
| CC | 1,825 - 1,843 | 0.67% - 0.88% |
| DD | 1,813 - 1,824 | 0.88% - 1.03% |
| EE | 1,782 - 1,812 | 1.03% - 1.58% |
| FF | 1,755 - 1,781 | 1.58% - 2.28% |
| GG | 1,724 - 1,754 | 2.28% - 3.46% |
| HH | 1,000 - 1,723 | 3.48% and above |
CBS does not publish the exact formula, but it does name the data that drives the score. The same factors appear on MoneySense and in the bank guides, so you can plan around them.
Negative marks do not sit on your file forever, but some linger far longer than others. Knowing the timelines tells you when a past mistake stops counting against you.
A single late payment is recoverable. Keep paying on time and it gradually falls out of the 12-month window that matters most. An unresolved default is the entry that does lasting damage, because it can sit there with no expiry until you clear it.
Bankruptcy is the heaviest mark of all, and it lives in two places at once. The Bureau Score reflects the default that triggered it, and a separate public record sits on the bankruptcy register kept by the Insolvency Office under the Ministry of Law.
A creditor can apply to make you bankrupt once you owe at least S$15,000 and cannot pay. That threshold was raised from S$10,000, so smaller debts no longer push someone into bankruptcy, but the figure is low enough that an unpaid card or personal loan balance can reach it.
How long the bankruptcy follows you depends on whether you pay your Target Contribution, the amount the Official Assignee sets based on your means. Pay it in full and your name and particulars stay on the public register for five years after you are discharged, then drop off. Fail to pay it in full before discharge and your record is kept on that register permanently. Discharge itself is not instant either: a first-time bankrupt is generally eligible within five to seven years, a repeat bankrupt within seven to nine. The lesson is the same as for any default, only sharper. Settle before a debt is large enough to trigger bankruptcy, and if you are already close, free help from managing your money better and from Credit Counselling Singapore beats waiting for a creditor to act.
You are entitled to see your own file, and you should check it before any large loan application so there are no surprises. There are a few ways in, and the right one depends on whether you have applied for credit recently and how fast you need the report.
Pay for it directly. Buy your Consumer Credit Report from the CBS website using Singpass. The self-enquiry report fee is S$8 including GST, and a faster express copy through SingPost costs S$19.44 for delivery within about two hours. Fees can change, so confirm the current amount on the CBS page before paying.
Get it free after an application. If a CBS member bank or finance company pulls your credit data because you applied for a loan or a credit card, you can obtain a free credit report within 30 calendar days of that application being approved, approved with revised terms, or rejected. Banks such as UOB point you to this entitlement after a card decision, and you can claim it on the CBS site or in person at the bureau with the approval or rejection letter and your NRIC.
Watch your file year-round. If you want ongoing visibility rather than a one-off pull, CBS sells a My Credit Monitor subscription in six- and twelve-month terms that bundles credit reports with SMS or email alerts when something changes on your file. It is useful if you are rebuilding a score or worried about identity fraud, less so if you only need a single snapshot before a loan.
The table below lays out the main channels so you can pick by cost and speed.
| Channel | Cost | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| CBS website self-enquiry (Singpass) | S$8 incl GST | Soft copy, usually same day |
| SingPost express | S$19.44 | Within about 2 hours |
| Free after a credit application | Free | Within 30 days of the loan or card decision |
| My Credit Monitor subscription | Paid plan, 6 or 12 months | Ongoing, with change alerts |
The report is more than a score. It lists your personal particulars, every credit account on file, your monthly repayment status on each, recent enquiries, and any default or bankruptcy records. When you open it, work through it in order.
Check that the personal details and accounts are actually yours, that any debt you have settled shows as settled, that the repayment status on each line matches what you know you paid, and that there are no enquiries you do not recognise. An unfamiliar account or enquiry can be the first sign of identity theft, so treat it seriously.
Mistakes happen, and you have a clear path to fix them. Note the enquiry number on your report, then raise a dispute with CBS and explain what is wrong. CBS forwards the dispute to the bank or finance company that supplied the data, posts a notice on your file that the entry is under investigation, and tells you the outcome. If the data is corrected, the revised report goes out to every CBS member that pulled your file in the previous 12 months, so a fixed error does not keep haunting recent applications. The secured loan and unsecured loan entries are worth extra scrutiny, since a wrongly recorded default on either can sink an application.
Banks do not approve or reject on the Bureau Score alone. The score and grade are one input alongside your income, your existing debts, and the regulatory limits on how much you can borrow.
A strong grade widens your options. It improves the odds of approval on a secured loan such as a mortgage or car loan, and it matters even more for an unsecured loan or a credit card, where the lender has no asset to fall back on. A weak grade can mean outright rejection, a lower limit, or approval with tighter terms.
Two regulatory limits also cap your borrowing regardless of score. The Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) caps the share of your monthly income that can go to all debt repayments when you take a property loan. For unsecured credit such as cards and personal lines, your combined limit across institutions is generally capped at 12 times your monthly income. A good score does not lift these ceilings; it only helps you get approved up to them. To see how a property loan fits your income, the mortgage calculator and the HDB loan calculator are a useful starting point.
The grade also feeds into pricing on some products. Where a lender prices to risk, a weaker grade can mean a higher interest rate or a larger deposit, while a strong grade puts you in line for the advertised best rates. The effect is largest on unsecured borrowing and on products where the bank competes hardest for low-risk customers, such as premium cards. Before you apply for anything large, it pays to know where you sit, because applying and being rejected leaves an enquiry on your file that a successful applicant avoids.
Loans from licensed moneylenders are not tracked by the main bank bureau. They are recorded by the Moneylenders Credit Bureau (MLCB), which CBS has operated on behalf of the Ministry of Law since 1 July 2021. It is a separate repository of your loans and repayments with licensed moneylenders.
If you have ever borrowed from a licensed moneylender, that history lives in the MLCB report, not your CBS bank credit report. A clean bank file does not mean a clean moneylender file, and vice versa. You can buy a Loan Information Report from the MLCB site if you need to see that side of your record.
Most people only ever deal with Credit Bureau Singapore, and it is the one banks rely on most, but it is not the sole licensed consumer credit bureau in Singapore. MAS has also licensed Experian Credit Bureau Singapore (formerly DP Credit Bureau) under the same Credit Bureau Act 2016.
For everyday borrowing this rarely changes anything, since the major banks contribute to and pull from CBS. It matters mainly if a lender you are dealing with checks the other bureau, or if you are tidying up your record before a big application and want to be thorough. The practical move stays the same: keep your repayments clean and your records will look good wherever a lender looks.
A low score is fixable. None of the steps below are quick hacks; they work because they change the data CBS actually scores. Give it about 12 months of consistent behaviour to show up.
On-time repayment is the heaviest factor, so remove the chance of forgetting. Set up GIRO or a standing instruction for your card and loan minimums, then pay the full balance manually on top where you can. One missed payment can undo months of progress. If money is tight, paying at least the minimum on time still keeps the account from being marked late, which protects your score even in a bad month. The order of priority is simple: never miss, then pay more than the minimum, then clear the balance in full.
High utilisation reads as financial strain even if you never miss a payment. Aim to keep your balances well below your limits, and pay down revolving card debt before chasing other goals because the interest is punishing. If you are juggling balances on several cards, a balance transfer can buy you an interest-light window to clear the principal, but only if you actually pay it off before the promotional rate ends.
Every application triggers an enquiry, and a cluster of enquiries in a short period works against you. Space out applications, and do not apply for a new card in the months before a mortgage application.
An unresolved default is the entry that can sit on your file indefinitely. Negotiate a settlement and pay it, so it shows as settled and starts its 3-year countdown. The difference matters: an outstanding default with no end date keeps dragging your score down, while a settled one ages out. If your debts are unmanageable, Credit Counselling Singapore offers free advice and structured debt management plans rather than leaving you to deal with each lender alone. Acting early, before an account is written off or sold, keeps your options open and your file cleaner.
Length of history helps your score, so resist closing the first card you ever got just to tidy up. Keep it active with a small recurring charge paid off in full each month.
A bad score and no score are different problems with a similar fix. If you are young or new to Singapore and lenders have nothing to go on, the answer is not to avoid credit but to use a little of it well. Get one mainstream card, put a regular bill on it, and clear the statement in full every month. A few months of that gives CBS real data to score, and it scores favourably. Treat a free financial health check as the starting point so a new card supports a plan rather than tempting you into a balance you cannot clear.
Scores run from 1,000 to 2,000. A score above 1,911 earns the top AA grade with the lowest default risk, and anything in the high-1,800s and above is generally treated as strong. A score of 1,723 or below falls into the worst HH grade.
If a bank or finance company pulled your credit data because you applied for a loan or credit card, you can get a free credit report from Credit Bureau Singapore within 30 days of that application being approved, approved with revised terms, or rejected. Otherwise you pay a small fee to buy the report directly with Singpass.
The self-enquiry Consumer Credit Report is around S$8 including GST when bought online from Credit Bureau Singapore, and an express copy through SingPost costs more. Fees change periodically, so confirm the current amount on the CBS website before paying.
Repayment history is assessed on a rolling 12-month basis, so consistent on-time payments usually start to move the score within about a year. Unresolved defaults are the exception, since they can stay on your file until you settle them.
No. A self-enquiry is recorded separately from a lender's enquiry and does not count against your score. You can check your own report as often as you like without harming it.
Financial institution enquiries stay for 2 years. A default that is settled by negotiation is kept for 3 years from settlement, while a default that is left outstanding, only partly paid, or sold off can remain on file indefinitely until it is resolved.
Licensed moneylender loans are recorded by the Moneylenders Credit Bureau, which is separate from your bank credit report at Credit Bureau Singapore. The two files are distinct, so a clean bank record does not guarantee a clean moneylender record.
It is harder but not always impossible. A weak grade can mean rejection, a lower limit, or approval on tighter terms such as a higher rate or a larger deposit. A secured loan backed by an asset is easier to get than unsecured credit because the lender has something to fall back on. The score is also only one input, so income and existing debts still count. Clearing any outstanding default first does the most to widen your options.
If you pay your Target Contribution in full, your name and particulars stay on the public bankruptcy register for five years after discharge, then come off. If you do not pay it in full before discharge, the record is kept on that register permanently. A creditor can apply to make you bankrupt once you owe at least S$15,000 and cannot pay.
No. CBS is the bureau the major banks rely on most, but MAS has also licensed Experian Credit Bureau Singapore under the Credit Bureau Act 2016. Licensed moneylender loans sit in a separate Moneylenders Credit Bureau. For everyday bank borrowing, CBS is the file that matters most.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.